Habits
by Haleb heart
Summary: Caleb helps his daughter when she needs him most. One shot.
Caleb sighed as he stepped into his house and put his keys down on the counter, exhausted after another dreary day of work.

"I'm home!" He yelled, listening to the echoes of his voice in the large house.

He spent a few minutes sorting through the mail, and looking through a few messages on his phone, then decided to go upstairs. He made his way up the large, spiral stairway, only to hear pop music coming from down the hallway. The brunette sighed and shook his head. Things had been a little rough lately since he was working extra hours, not that they needed it. He walked down the hallway, and knocked on the door, which seemed to thud with the beat of the music. After a few moments with no answer, he opened the door to see his daughter, Lucy, sitting on her bed doing homework.

He smiled at the sight, "Geez, how loud can this thing go?"

Lucy looked up and laughed, turning down the speaker so her music was almost muted.

"Have you eaten yet?" Caleb asked seeing as it was almost ten o'clock.

The girl shook her head, smiling, "No, I wanted to wait for you."

"Alright, I'll go make something if you're hungry" Caleb half-questioned as he stepped fully into the room.

She nodded and said a quick "thank you" before returning back to her homework.

x-x-x

"Lucy, dinner!" Caleb yelled twenty minutes later, placing two plates on their expansive wooden dining table.

The tall, blue-eyed, blonde haired girl came down the stairs into the kitchen, looking directly down at her phone. Every time he saw her, he thought of Hanna, and the amazing life they had together.

"Looks great," she said, placing her phone upside down on the table so she couldn't see the screen.

He smiled, "Thank you."

The two sat and talked for almost an hour while they ate, which was something they rarely did because of their hectic schedules. Lucy was a freshman in high school, involved in probably everything she possibly could be, from drama to honors classes to fashion design, which kept her incredibly busy. And Caleb, being the owner of his own computer software design company, spent late nights at the office and days on end traveling from New York to wherever he had to go on occasion.

"Is everything okay?" He asked Lucy, noticing she had only been picking at her food, barely eating anything.

"Yeah, just had a really late lunch," she mumbled, managing a small smile at her father.

She then excused herself and went back upstairs to her room for the night. Caleb took the dishes in, and cleaned around the house for a little while until it was almost midnight.

"What is she still doing up?" He mumbled to himself as he walked up the stairs and saw Lucy's light on and heard the music coming from the room.

He walked in, and looked around, not seeing her anywhere.

"Lucy?" He walked around the room trying to find her.

Then, he heard a noise come from her bathroom. Going over, he tried to get in, only to realize the door was locked. Hearing the noise again, Caleb started to worry, so he rummaged through her counter top and used a Bobby pin to unlock the door, just like he had done many times before with Hanna.

"Swe-Oh my god, Lucy what the hell are you doing?!" He panicked, looking at the tiny blonde who was leaned over her toilet with two fingers in her mouth.

She froze in place, then looked over at Caleb, and broke out in tears. He immediately went by her side, bringing her into his arms.

"I-I'm so s-sorry," she sobbed into his chest.

"Shh, It's okay, it's okay," he whispered, trying to comfort her the best he could.

They stayed like that until the girls sobs died down, and Caleb pulled away from the blonde.

"Is this why you weren't eating earlier?" He asked quietly, looking straight at his daughter.

She nodded ever so slightly, looking down at the floor.

"Why?" The brunette asked again.

"The o-other kids at s-school were making fun o-of me..." Lucy stumbled, playing with the rug on the floor trying to avoid eye contact with Caleb.

He sighed, pausing for a minute to think.

"Come here, I want to show you something," he said, standing up and walking to his room while she followed him.

He went into his closet and pulled out a box of pictures, then set the on the bed, and sat down next to Lucy.

"What are these?" She questioned, slowly opening the box.

"Pictures of your mom and I, mostly of her before we met though." He explained, taking one out.

He looked at the picture of the two of them, weakly smiling. Six years ago, when Lucy was eight, Hanna had died in a car accident, leaving the two of them on their own from then on. At first, Caleb resented Lucy, he couldn't bear even looking at her, but now he can't even think of hating her like he used to. Every day she looks and acts more and more like Hanna. It's like he still has a piece of her with him every day.

"Why are you showing me these?" She whispered.

She only remembered her mom by the pictures and stories she had heard from friends and family. Caleb wasn't one to talk much about Hanna, but he always made sure that he raised Lucy to know her mom, and that if Hanna were still alive, she would be proud of who Lucy turned out to be.

"Because I need to tell you something," he sighed, rummaging through the box and pulling about a picture of Hanna when she was Lucy's age. Before she met Alison and after her parents divorce.

She looked up at Caleb, curious as to what he was doing. He took a deep breath and handed her the picture.

"That was your mom, a long, long time ago." He stated, pointing to Hanna in the picture.

Lucy looked at the picture, "It doesn't look like her."

"I know, that's because she was a completely different person back then. Your mom went through a time in her life where she didn't really have anyone, so she started binge-eating." He bit his lip, thinking back to when Hanna had told him about this part of her life.

The blue-eyes girl looked up, urging him on.

"She didn't like the person she was becoming, and neither did one of her friends. So, she made herself sick, just like you did." He pulled out a picture of her and Alison together.

"She did?" Lucy asked, not believing him.

"She did. And because of that, she felt even worse about herself, but she wouldn't show it. Your mom always told me how she wishes she had found another way, instead of making herself sick. She let other people's opinions on her get to her when she shouldn't have. I think if she were here, she would tell you exactly what I'm telling you now. And now that you know this, I'm asking you, please don't do this anymore..." He sniffled, starting to tear up as he looked down at his daughter.

"You're my baby girl, and you're all I have left, Luc. I don't want to see you hurting yourself like this," he admitted as Lucy came over and hugged him, both of them tearing up.

"I won't, I promise," she cried, holding onto Caleb.

He held her tightly, the silence between them comfortable as both of their tears dried.

"I miss her..." Lucy mumbled, looking up at Caleb.

"I know babe, I do too, more than you'll ever know," he said, wiping her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"A-am I a disappointment to her?" She asked, looking straight into his eyes.

"What? No, of course not. Your mom would be so proud of you and who you've become. I know she would."

A few moments passed as they both looked at her picture one last time.

"Okay, now go get some sleep, I'm taking the day off and we're going to go visit your Grandma Ashley tomorrow," the brunette said, barely smiling as he stood up and composed himself once again.

Lucy nodded, hugging her dad one last time, before going back to her room and going to bed.

Caleb looked at the picture of Hanna and him that he kept on his bedside table. God did he miss her.

x-x-x

I don't know what I just wrote but you all can thank One Tree Hill for this and all the one shots that are about to come as I keep watching and imagining Nathan and Haley as Haleb. I have a few others that I'm thinking of, most of which are nowhere near this sad, but we'll see ;) I hope this didn't hurt anyone too badly, and if you're going through anything like this right now, you can always message me because I'm here to talk if you want to. -K


End file.
